An area of a Younkers department store was transformed into LEGO heaven, with full displays of their entire line. It was divided into sections, with each one representing one particular theme. There was the City area, the Technic area, the Castle area and, my personal favorite, the Space area. What was probably in reality only a couple of little rooms in the store became a wondrous world in my elementary school-aged brain. That world has been brought to glorious life in "The LEGO Movie."

Emmet (Chris Pratt) is an average guy. He follows his daily instructions, doing everything the manuals say he should for a happy life. He listens to the popular song "Everything is Awesome" on the radio, buys overpriced coffee and works happily at his construction job. One day, at the end of his shift, he spies a woman digging around in an off-limits area. When he tries to stop her, he falls through a hole and ends up in a cavern far below ground. Within this cavern, he is called to a mysterious object. When he touches it, he experiences strange visions just before blacking out.

Emmet wakes to find the object attached to his back, and he's being interrogated by Good Cop/Bad Cop (Liam Neeson), the head of security for Lord Business (Will Ferrell). He gets saved by Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), the woman he had seen at the construction site. She tells him that the object is called the Piece of Resistance, and prophecy states one known as "The Special" would find it and use it to help Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) stop Lord Business from using the Kragle to end their world.

What comes across on paper as a rather simple plot is actually far deeper than you would expect. Starting with exactly what the Kragle and the Piece of Resistance really are, there is much more intelligence here than something called "The LEGO Movie" should have. The jokes fly fast and furious, the in-jokes sneak up on you, the action is exciting and there is a twist to the story that comes as a nice surprise, giving the movie a healthy dose of heart in the process.

The terrific voice cast also includes Will Arnett as Batman, Nick Offerman as Metalbeard the Pirate, Alison Brie as Uni-Kitty (a hybrid unicorn and anime-style cat), Charlie Day as Benny (the generic spaceman from the 1980s), as well as a whole host of cameo voices and characters. One cameo scene in particular had me doubled-over with laughter and joy.

"The LEGO Movie" is the first great comedy, the first great action film and the first great family film of the year. It's also the closest you could ever come to actually living in the world LEGO created in my local Younkers so many years ago.